


knight time: addendum

by SerpentineJ



Category: DC Animated Universe, DCU, Superman: The Animated Series
Genre: M/M, post- superman animated s03e07
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-29
Updated: 2016-04-29
Packaged: 2018-06-05 07:18:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6695053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerpentineJ/pseuds/SerpentineJ
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bruce's clothes smell like Clark.</p><p>(a little post-knight time (superman animated s03e07) addendum. (if you haven't seen the ep, i wrote a brief synopsis of what happened in the author's note, but 's a pretty basic plot, and it's not really necessary to get the story...))</p>
            </blockquote>





	knight time: addendum

**Author's Note:**

> NOTE: ok, so in knight time, batman disappeared from gotham. supes hears abt it from a criminal that comes from gotham, where criminals are going crazy bc there's no batman, to commit crime in metropolis, and heads to gotham to check it out. turns out bruce was injected w nanobots and mind-controlled to tell robin/nightwing/everyone else that he was leaving for a little bit for various reasons. clark pretends to be batman to stop the crime sprees and tries to find out what happened to bruce (he dresses up in bruce's suit and hangs out w robin and takes cases from comm. gordon for a couple days.) great episode, 10/10 would recommend. (and of course i had to go and make it gay ahahah)
> 
> also i have a couple longer fics in the works but i wanted to get something out there.

Bruce's clothes smell like Clark.

He doesn't really notice it until he tugs on his suit, fastening the cowl over his head, take a deep, centering breath- there's a vaguely familiar scent, unfamiliar to his suit, and it doesn't take long for him to identify it as that cheap cologne Clark uses to further purport the guise of mild-mannered, slightly broke reporter. He considers taking it off, washing it, because that's a little weird, but that could take hours, and Gotham doesn't have hours- he can already practically hear the screams of wronged people and the laughter of criminals in the dark, gloomy, shadowy alleys, and decides against changing. He'll deal with it for one night.

~~~~~~

Later- well, the next morning- Bruce scrolls through some of the surveillance footage of the Cave and the Manor during the nanite incident- he wants to make sire that nobody was messing with his things- that Clark hadn't changed any of the settings on his monitor, that Tim hadn't taken advantage of his disappearance to take the Batmobile out for a spin, that Alfred hadn't surreptitiously changed his wardrobe.

To his relief, nothing too out of the way of what he had expected had, apparently, happened. There's an awful lot of footage of Clark sitting in his chair, using his computer, wearing his suit, which is a little surreal, but Bruce brushes it aside.

~~~~~~

"It's so cool that you know Superman." Robin grins, always carefree, and dangles his legs off of the examination table, watching Bruce while he works. "He called me your partner, you know."

"Sure." Bruce grunts. He adjusts the lens on his microscope by a hair.

"Is he your best friend?" Robin continues curiously. He's either legitimately obliviously blunt or he's trying to get under Bruce's skin. "He was pretty worried about you. Heard you were gone and came all the way from Metropolis." He eyes the other man, almost gleefully.

"No." Bruce replies shortly. Clark isn't his best friend. He doesn't have best friends, they're cheesy as fuck- something that teenage girls would write in their rhinestone-studded diaries with glitter pen.

"...is he your friend?" Robin cocks his head.

Bruce doesn't answer.

~~~~~~

The questions lingers.

"Is he your friend?"

Is Clark his friend? Kent probably thinks so, probably thinks they're buddies, that optimistic asshole, Bruce knows better. Are they friends? He's nevr really thought about quantifying it, Their knowing each other is a result of chance and circumstance, not the idea that they like each other or enjoy each other's company- they work together, and spend time together when it's needed, and sometimes when it's not, but that alone doesn't mean they're friends. He cares about Clark, sure, and that's not something that comes easily, but is that a result of liking the man or a result of the Justice League and, to a certain extent, the world, being dependent on Superman? Would he be close to Clark if they weren't superheroes?

What makes two people friends?

He decides to stop thinking about it.

~~~~~~

Bruce throws himself into his work.

Lately, it seems like Clark, or reminders of Clark, have been popping up everywhere. A front-page news story about Superman's latest feat, written by Clark Kent, printed on the copy of The Daily Planet that Alfred hands to him at breakfast one morning along with the Gotham Financial and the Central City Common. A tall, broad, black-haired man playing with a white dog in the park when Bruce drives by on his way to a lunch meeting with a prospective business partner. 

He never did get around to cleaning that suit.

**Author's Note:**

> NOTE: idk ok i guess this is more like a. character study. or something. poor bruce. this probably got unnecessarily emo lmao
> 
> [hmu on tumblr](http://serpentinej.tumblr.com)


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